Associations between obstructive sleep apnea and dental pain and chewing discomfort in Korean adults: a nationwide cross-sectional study

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may be linked with oral health issues. This study evaluated the associations between OSA, dental pain, and chewing discomfort. Big data from a nationwide survey involving 6984 participants aged ≥ 40 years were analyzed. The STOP-Bang questionnaire was used to assess the OSA risk, categorizing the participants into low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups. The associations of OSA risk with dental pain and chewing discomfort were evaluated using multivariate logistic regression analyses (α = 0.05). Results revealed that 50.33%, 37.50%, and 12.17% of the population belonged to the low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups, respectively. After adjusting for covariates, a significant association emerged between OSA risk and dental pain, with adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of 1 (reference), 1.208 (1.003–1.455), and 1.472 (1.131–1.916) for the low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups, respectively (p = 0.0156). The adjusted odds ratio for chewing discomfort in the high-risk OSA group was 1.307 (0.977–1.748), although not significantly different from that of the low-risk group (p > 0.05). A high risk of OSA was associated with 1.472-fold increased risk of dental pain compared to those at low risk, implicating OSA as a potential risk indicator of poor oral health.